MORNING MESSAGE: A Long Cold Summer For Young People Looking For Work
OurFuture.org's Isaiah J. Poole: "Just in the past decade Congress has cut $1 billion from youth jobs programs, according to a report by the Center for American Progress. And that is at a time when even before the Great Recession youth unemployment was at chronic high levels ... There is currently a youth jobs deficit of 4.1 million; that is the number of jobs that the economy would have to produce to restore the job market to what it was in 2007 ... It may be too late to do much for the teenagers who are now beginning to end their school years and will face a summer without serious job prospects. But Congress has still before it a fiscal 2014 budget. If House Republicans would end their stonewalling on negotiating with the Senate on the budget details, Democrats can insist that a robust youth jobs program be a priority for 2014."
Senate Dems Seek To Break CFPB Filibuster
Possible Thursday Senate vote on confirming Richard Cordray at CFPB. The Hill: "Senate Republicans, however, say they will filibuster Cordray unless changes are made to the bureau ... Democrats argue that blocking a nominee to extract changes to the law is an abuse of the Senate’s filibuster rule, and say the so-called nuclear option — a controversial maneuver to change the Senate’s rules with a simple majority vote — is back on the table if Republicans do not end their obstruction of nominees. "
Republicans wasting their time with Cordray filibuster. Politico: "... there has been little evidence that the standoff has prevented the agency ... from doing its job. Since Cordray was installed through a controversial recess appointment in January 2012, the agency has marched through its day-to-day work, including writing highly anticipated, and lobbied, mortgage rules while putting in place programs to supervise banks and other lenders ... privately [financial] industry officials appear to be tiring of the debate, noting that Cordray has proven to be a more open and reasonable regulator than they anticipated."
Former 14-year NLRB member Wilma Liebman urges approval of labor board nominees: "..., the five nominees are highly experienced labor lawyers and qualified to serve as members of the NLRB ... At any other time, their confirmation would be a virtual certainty ... the unions, employers and individual employees who rely on the NLRB to resolve disputes over unfair labor practices and union representation deserve better than this crisis of governance."
Immigration Vote Nears
Senate Judiciary Cmte may vote on immigration reform bill this week. AP: "...the committee must resolve a few remaining disputes ... One involves amendments over high-skilled immigrant visas sought by the high-tech industry but opposed by labor unions ... There's also a disagreement over whether gay Americans should be given the right to sponsor their foreign-born spouses for green cards like straight Americans can ..."
Business-labor compromise may unravel. Bloomberg: "... a series of amendments backed by technology and construction companies and opposed by the AFL-CIO labor federation risk upsetting a delicate balance ... the reopening of fissures between business and labor serves as a reminder of how tough the challenge is. That divide is the one that scuttled the last attempt in 2007."
Battle For Affordable Student Loan Heats Up
Sen. Gillibrand proposes student loan reform. HuffPost: "Debtors with high interest rates on their federal student loans would refinance into cheaper loans under proposed legislation to be unveiled this week, in a move that would lower borrowers’ burdens and potentially hurt private lenders and investors. The plan sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) would force the U.S. Secretary of Education to automatically refinance most government loans carrying interest rates above 4 percent into fixed, 4-percent loans. Roughly nine of 10 federally-backed loans would be affected..."
Warren student loan bill "the germ of a counter-revolution against austerity politics," argues Robert Kuttner: "Corporations are able to declare bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and write off old loan -- but college debt follows former students literally to the grave even if they go bankrupt. Big banks have gotten trillions of dollars of debt relief from the TARP program and the Federal Reserve's program of buying toxic assets from banks. But there is no debt relief for students and former students. Can't we build a movement around that?"
Breakfast Sides
Good Jobs Nation rallies for living wages in DC tomorrow at noon.
NYT edit board slams CFTC derivatives deal: "...the commission’s initial proposal called for hedge funds, asset managers and corporations to contact at least five banks when seeking prices for a derivatives contract. In a major concession to the banks, that number was lowered to two in the final rule. Sometime in 2014, it is supposed to rise to three, but that would still be inadequate. Worse, there’s always the risk that delayed rules will never go into effect. The initial proposal also called for derivatives trading to take place on open electronic platforms. The final rules will allow much of the negotiation over derivative prices to take place over the phone, a practice that is difficult to monitor and prone to abuse."
